The present invention relates to a communication apparatus and a control method therefor and, more particularly, to a communication apparatus in which a communication channel and a control channel are exclusively assigned to a radio communication resource to be used, and a control method therefor.
Conventionally, in information processing apparatuses such as personal computers (PCs) and personal digital assistants (PDA), communication interfaces using infrared rays are used. According to IrDA as infrared communication standards, a search for a terminal in a communication zone is made every predetermined time interval before establishment of communication regardless of the state of the information processing apparatus. The time interval at which this terminal search is made is determined in advance, and a message for a terminal search is always broadcast every predetermined time interval even if the battery residual capacity becomes small.
Since a terminal as a communication partner is not always present in a communication zone, even if terminal search processing is indiscriminately performed every predetermined time interval, the communication partner may not be searched out. In this case, power is unnecessarily consumed. In a device that operates on a battery, in particular, if terminal search processing is indiscriminately performed every predetermined time interval, the battery driving time shortens accordingly.
In radio communication systems such as Bluetooth and HomeRF systems, which have recently received a great deal of attention, terminal search processing is generally performed every predetermined time interval. In these radio communication systems, a master can simultaneously connect to a plurality of slaves. For this reason, unlike IrDA, even if connection is being established, terminal search processing is periodically performed to search for a new terminal. In this case, since a communication channel for data transmission/reception and a control channel for terminal search processing or the like are exclusively assigned to a radio communication resource, if communication is being performed in performing terminal search processing, the communication is temporarily stopped. If, therefore, a terminal as a communication partner is not present in a communication zone, wasteful terminal search processing decreases the communication speed.
As described above, in the prior art, terminal search processing is performed every predetermined time interval, resulting in unnecessary consumption of power and a deterioration in communication processing performance.